


Dueling Sources

by HerSistersKeeper, pythia



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Online Dating, F/M, Internet Romance, online flirting, yes this is about two twitter accounts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 14:06:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15121046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerSistersKeeper/pseuds/HerSistersKeeper, https://archiveofourown.org/users/pythia/pseuds/pythia
Summary: Kylo frowned at Hux who hovered in the doorway of his office. He let out an annoyed huff.  “I was not flirting with the person running the Dictionary.com Twitter account. I just happened to see how to score us a few points, while also being right.” He posted his next tweet and then glared at Hux, “Run along. I would imagine that someone might be getting a bit flirty with the thesaurus account. Can’t have that.”





	1. Slide into my DMs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kuresoto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuresoto/gifts).



> I pitched this to Hersisterskeeper based off of some tweets from Merriam-Webster that made me kind of fall in love. This might be weirder than the Taylor Swift AU. 
> 
> Also, this is for Kuresoto, who sent me a prompt on Tumblr ages ago: 25. “Sorry, I spout out random facts when I’m nervous.” 
> 
> [Pythia](http://twitter.com/pythiatweets) writes Ben Solo [HerSistersKeeper](http://hersisterskeeper.tumblr.com) writes Rey Kanata.

Kylo frowned at Hux who hovered in the doorway of his office. He let out an annoyed huff. “I was not flirting with the person running the Dictionary.com Twitter account. I just happened to see how to score us a few points, while also being right.”

He posted his next tweet and then glared at Hux, “Run along. I would imagine that someone might be getting a bit flirty with the thesaurus account. Can’t have that.”

Rey mindlessly drummed her fingers against her mousepad, musing and smirking at the latest tweet from the Merriam-Webster account. Leave it to the modern age of social media to allow two dictionary companies to snark at online trolls.

Poe glanced over her shoulder, trying to guess what was on the social media manager's mind. In a second, Rey was retweeting the definition with a comment: "There's a reason we listen to the OG of Dictionaries. #owned"

Poe chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Are you flirting with Merriam-Webster? How scandalous."

Rey glanced back with a smirk, rolling her eyes. "Hardly."

In a moment, she was clicking over to Merriam-Webster's bio, her mouse clicking resoundingly on the message button, and typing, "Thanks for the backup. We dictionaries have to stick together. (And yes, you can screenshot this)."

"I can't believe you just slid into Merriam-Webster's DMs," Poe guffawed, Rey waving him off as he snickered.

"Oh please, it's not like I slid in there with 'talk diction to me' like Urban Dictionary did a few months back. But now, we wait."

Kylo sorted through his endless feed of news and data from the website, pulling up recent searches to see what exactly was on people’s minds at the moment. He’d been with Merriam-Webster, guiding their Twitter presence since finishing graduate school. It was a mostly interesting job, but sometimes he wanted to actually speak to a person face to face, instead of online.

Tweetdeck pinged, and Kylo was alerted to five new direct messages. One was from Dictionary.com - sliding into his DMs, like a kid wearing socks on a slick floor. The image made him smile, and against his better judgment, he clicked on their message. As a rule, Kylo rarely spoke to people via DM. He felt if he was saying anything online, it was worth saying in public. If he didn’t want it to be public, then it was probably something that Kylo shouldn’t be expressing.

Chuckling to himself, he typed out a reply, “Absolutely. We both know that @OED would sell us both out in a minute. What we say in DMs remains... reference material. - KR.”

Rey was at lunch when she got the reply, all but snatching her phone up from where it laid between her and Rose's sandwiches. Rose, a copy editor for Dictionary.com, raised her eyebrows.

"Did Merriam-Webster message you back?" She held up her hands in mock defense at Rey's raised eyebrow and suspicious look, explaining, "Poe told me about it. Are you actually flirting with the social media manager?"

"I need to know someone before I flirt with them-- I'm not Poe, for God's sake." Still, she typed quickly, sending off her response accompanied by a gif of Matilda's Miss Honey lowering her glasses.

"Reference material for what, may I ask? Future blackmail if I forget to use an Oxford comma in a tweet? -RK"

Kylo sat eating a sad desk lunch, one that McSweeney’s or some other satirical publication would delight in describing. He wanted to finish early and escape home to read.

Everyone always assumed that Kylo was a technology geek, given his job. He actually wasn’t, Kylo loved language and learning new words. Raised in a home without television or the internet, Kylo was the sort of child that did calligraphy.

A late talker, he went from silent, pleading expressions shot at various adults to speaking complex sentences as a four-year-old. If Kylo didn’t know what to say, he remained silent. Sometimes, as an angry teenager, his fists were more effective at expressing the turbulent feelings roiling inside him. Later, he picked up fencing to channel his pugilistic tendencies and writing to better express all of his complicated emotions. For Kylo Ren, the longest and most satisfying relationship in his life had been with the written word.

Tweetdeck chimed, another message from Dictionary.com. It was a flirtatious message, with a gif added to the end to ensure there was nothing ambiguous about their message. Was it a team? Judging from the initials, a mirror of his own, there was only one person operating the account. It was intriguing to consider that there was someone else out there that had the same peculiar job while using Twitter as a bully pulpit to push for truthful and clear communication in society. His father would say that whoever this other person was, they were destined to be Kylo’s best friend or his enemy. Kylo would settle for someone that he could just talk to and know that they were on his level.

Reading over his response, Kylo checked his grammar and pressed send.

“RK - Reference materials for me, for when we finally go to war with Urban Dictionary and Wiktionary. I think you’ll be a good ally. Loose lips sink ships and I suspect you’d never forget to use an Oxford comma. - KR.”

Rey snickered to herself at the addition of the gif, firing back quickly before Rose could raise her eyebrows any higher.

"Oh, haven't you heard that Vampire Weekend song about the Oxford comma? I'm a rebel when it comes to usage. AP style all the way. RK"

Okay, so maybe she was flirting with whoever was behind Merriam-Webster's account. Maybe. Either way, it was the most exciting her work day had been in quite a long time.

Kylo was reading over the most recent trend reports, making notes of which words and phrases they needed to focus on for the next twenty-four hours. If anything changed, they could always log into to Tweetdeck and their blog to make changes before anything published, but it felt good to get a solid queue of relevant, timely information set for people to read. Once finished, he reread the message from RK, the mysterious voice of Dictionary.com. What could he say? He didn’t know the song and had to google it. For better or worse, Kylo had spent the early 2000s in an academic foxhole, trying to finish graduate school before the economy got even worse. Emerging from graduate school with a job in his field in the middle of the Great Recession felt like the forces in the universe were trying to make up for everything he’d gone through as a teenager.

”I went to Columbia with those guys. So, using an Oxford comma was really just pushing back again the zeitgeist... Nice move with Giuliani and the booing thread. I'm sleeping on the job today, but I’ve got some cute kids in a thread in about two minutes. Game on? - KR”

He frowned at his message. Maybe it was too pretentious? Admitting he’d gone to Columbia with Vampire Weekend? There was also using a word like zeitgeist, then again, to someone with their sort of job, it was just common parlance. RK had to love words too, otherwise, why would they have their job?

"Game on. You bring the cute kids, I'll bring the snark. Our mistake of a president is giving me plenty of fodder. -RK."

"And you almost got me to a T, except I actually work in an office and drink kombucha, but only when my yoga teacher tells me the moon's in the right position. Hippy-dippy shit like that. Let me guess... You're in NYC or Boston, Mx. Puritan?-RK."

Yup, she was definitely flirting with whoever was on the other end, and she busied herself with scrolling through the latest highlights of the day, rolling her eyes at the latest entertainment and political convergence.

”I own too many ties for that entire description. I'm in Springfield, so Boston isn't too far off, Mx. Flowerchild. I do have the prerequisite love of Dunkin Doughnuts, so I am almost a native. - KR.”

Holy shit. Kylo clicked on send and realized that he was definitely flirting with some stranger via his work Twitter. Fuck. He hadn't crossed any professional boundaries, and it was nice to speak to someone outside of his team. Mitaka was a genuinely good guy, but busy with his young family. Hux was a member of the Republican Party, which meant Kylo was the enemy, given his parentage. Well, not an enemy, more like a frenemy.

"I'm only a bit disappointed that my guess was wrong, but only because I was hoping you'd surprise me and say you were in LA and you wanted to talk diction sometime. No worries though: I'm getting scriptwriters and wannabe writers blowing up both my work and personal DMs. Maybe if I'm lucky, one of them will turn out to be you. -RK."

Rey nearly jumped out of her skin at the low whistle sounding behind, Poe's cackle all too loud in her ear. She huffed, turning away.

"Shut up, this is as much action as I've gotten in a year."

"The most action you've gotten in a year that you actually want," Poe corrected her, grinning as he plopped down next to Rose, musing. "Next time you activate Tinder, just tell them to talk wordy to you. Maybe they'll be up to par with Merriam-Webster."

"Or I could have to send them my own work tweets to show them what assholes they are for mansplaining to me, but sure, Poe."

“I always want to talk diction. It’s nice to meet another word nerd. Scriptwriters and wannabe writers sound about as bad as you can get. You’re the first I’ve responded to, as a rule, I don’t really chat with anyone. Most people want to know who I am? I wouldn’t mind if you asked. - KR.”

Biting his lip, Kylo hit send and set about working through his afternoon projects. He was the only person that had access to the account, except for Enfys, his boss. She had a rebellious streak and had encouraged bringing out Kylo’s more snappy and witty voice to the account. Of all people, she would understand why he might befriend another person who had the same unique job as him. He’d just left a meeting with Enfys as they mapped out the next six months of major cultural and political events in the Anglophone world.

His inbox chimed with an email from Enfys, startling Kylo out of his reverie. He clicked it open and began to read, “Kylo, I know that you hate the spotlight. I know. NPR and Vice have reached out wanting to interview the voice behind our Twitter account. Apparently, people are ‘shipping’ you with the woman who runs the Dictionary.com account. I think it’s a good move. We’re an established reference tool and have been educating people but we’re by no means old-fashioned. Thoughts? - E”

Kylo reread the sentence, “Apparently people are ‘shipping’ you with the woman who runs the Dictionary.com account. For some reason, he imagined a faceless woman, sitting on one of those exercise ball chairs, cackling to herself as she sipped on a cup of icy kombucha. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one that wondered if their tête-à-tête was intentionally flirtatious.

Before he could talk himself out of the interview, Kylo pounded out a quick response to Enfys. “Yeah, I’ll talk to them. When do they want to do this? - K’

Rey snorted when she saw that Merriam-Webster *and* Dictionary.com were trending, though she couldn't say that she was surprised. Her and this KR had kept up a volley of retweets and quips back and forth all afternoon and of course, the Twittersphere noticed.

She pulled herself away from the latest mention and considered the last message from KR again. Her heart shouldn't have been pounding over possibly getting a name behind the snark, but she had been stalling in her response for about half an hour and her nerves weren't getting any better with the wait.

"I feel like asking who you are is like asking Batman to take off his mask, or telling Clark Kent to take off his glasses. How about this: the next thing I tweet out vs the next thing you tweet out. Whoever gets the most retweets has to tell the other their secret identity first.-RK"

Even if they didn't take her up on the challenge, Rey had the perfect next tweet in mind, scanning trending tweets for a popular one about Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster.

Seizing on one that read, "Who ships the Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com now?", she retweeted it, commenting simply, "@Merriam-Webster  FWB? <http://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/friends-with-benefits/>

“@dictionarycom FWB? Working for Merriam-Webster does get you a full medical package. h[ttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benefits](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benefits)."

Rey chuffed to herself, waving off Rose's inquiring look across from her, their lunch break done and work resumed. Putting in her headphones before stretching her arms overhead, she considered a response to the tweet, opting instead for a direct message.

“It's like you want to tell me your secret identity. May the best dictionary win. Xoxo- RK.”

Rey rolled her eyes at herself before clicking out of the message thread and forcing her attention elsewhere. She wasn't about to wait on a response after she double-texted already. She was intrigued, but she wasn't desperate.

“NPR reached out to me after we trended, and I’m afraid that my secret identity won’t be a secret anymore. Hopefully, you aren’t disappointed by it. The story will be on All Things Considered at 5 pm Eastern Standard… I assume you like NPR, because well, you’re you. - KR.”

“Why would I be disappointed? Are you secretly a Republican?-RK”

“Ha. They would love to have me, but that will never happen. For many reasons. - KR”

Kylo fidgeted as he faced the smooth-voiced NPR reporter that drove up from Boston to interview him. After a quick setup, there was a microphone and a glass of water on his desk. The story would air the next day, sometime during the five o'clock hour. At least it was a radio interview, Kylo hated having his picture taken under any circumstance. He cleared his throat," Are you ready to start?"

"Whenever you are," the interviewer grinned, nodding as he silently counted them down.

"We're here today with the man behind the Merriam-Webster myth, the social media manager who has seemingly mastered the art of always being right and leaving your audience wanting more. For all, you internet sleuths trying to figure out who Merriam-Webster's new 'bae' might be, meet Kylo Ren. Kylo, tell us a little about yourself."

“Hi, well. I’m Kylo. I’m 30, I like words and Merriam-Webster lets me go online and talk with people about the wonders of the English language,” he wheezed a little, “That sounds so cheesy, but it’s true.

"You do a good job at it, seeing that you have people talking. When you're crafting your tweets, what comes first: the definition, the language or the chance to be funny?"

"I don't really think of myself as funny, to be honest. It's amusing to me that anyone finds what I say funny. I've always been a pretty serious person. The most serious toddler that you could imagine. For me, the language and the definition always comes first. That's why I work for Merriam-Webster because I am really serious about those two things.  My mom works in politics, and I am endlessly frustrated by how people use words to obscure the truth. So, whenever we're picking words and writing copy for features on the website, it's always about truth and accuracy."

"Well, it seems that your words, humorous or not, have captured an audience. Including another, possibly competing brand: Dictionary.com. How did that camaraderie startup?"

"Well, they have the same vision and mission as Merriam-Webster. I personally don't seem them as a competitor, because we're both dedicated to the same things. Would I prefer if people used Merriam-Webster? Definitely... We started talking to each other a few weeks ago, when someone took issue with their post calling out some member of Congress for using a word incorrectly in order to walk around the truth. I remember seeing someone retweet their response, and it made me laugh. So, I jumped in. We started talking and I guess we're friends? Frenemies? Allies? I don't know. I like their work, they're funny. I wish they worked with me. We'd probably rule the internet before the year is out," Kylo chuckled nervously.

"Seeing that Twitter users have taken an interest in your interactions, be it in the comments or retweets, I'm sure they'll be surprised to know that there's some behind the scenes talking. Did you two orchestrate this as a marketing plan? Or do you two just talk about your words of the day? Inquiring minds want to know."

"No, it's all spontaneous. I promise. I don't even know their name, they could really be anyone. We've talked about a lot of different things, mostly about current events, popular culture. They're very smart and quick-witted. I have a very singular job, so it's nice to have someone out there that I can talk to that understands how much of my day is about the internet... When I go home, I don't even have a computer or tv. I mostly read or draw."

"So there are no plans to meet the mystery manager behind the Dictionary.com Twitter? It seems that fans on and off the platform are interested in seeing that meeting happen. After all, you two have a way with words."

“Uhh, not right now? I did mention this interview to them. There’s also a part of me that would like to just remain this faceless person because I’m pretty awkward in real life. It’s up to them. They live on the West Coast, from whey they’ve said. I guess you’d have to reach out and interview them?”

"We'll have to reach out to them. That about does it for us, at the moment. Thank you Kylo, and Merriam-Webster, for joining us today. Godspeed on your wordsmithing journey."

  



	2. 500 Miles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens after the NPR interview?

….

If Rey didn't know better, she'd think that her coworkers were more invested in the Merriam-Webster social media manager than she was. After telling Rose over post-work drinks that KR would be having an NPR interview the next day, she had gone home without a further thought than to listen to it while she made dinner the next day.

When she got to work, it was apparent that at least six different people had taken it on themselves to bombard her work computer with sticky notes reminding her about the interview, and every conversation she had included (be it at the beginning or end) "Are you going to listen to the interview?" To which she would nod, with varying degrees of exasperation. 

When 5 p.m. rolled around, no one at the office was sprinting out the door. Instead, Poe was turning on NPR over the office speakers, and everyone was gathered with rapt attention, be it in the break room or at their desk.

He sounded as handsome as Rey imagined him to be, and she'd admit to Rose later that he sounded adorable and just her type. Still, as the audio filtered out, and everyone's eyes turned to her, she knew that she had to respond.

Silently, she got up, wheeling the projector out of the conference room to hook it up to her computer, broadcasting her computer screen against the office's blank wall. She could hear everyone holding their breath as she brought up the Twitter page and then started typing. 

"@MerriaMerriam-Websterebster [https://open.spotify.com/track/66S14BkJDxgkYxLl5DCqOz?si=0qGTqlHtQceR6bAaxVomBw ](https://open.spotify.com/track/66S14BkJDxgkYxLl5DCqOz?si=0qGTqlHtQceR6bAaxVomBw)

When the Proclaimers' song "(500 Miles)" popped up in the Twitter link, a single whoop went up, and when she pressed send, the entire office erupted.

Still, they weren't as invested as Rey was, and she savored her smirk as everyone began filtering out for the day.

 

Kylo wasn’t too proud to admit that he added notifications for whenever the Dictionary.com account updated. He got the notification at 8pm that they tweeted at him. It was the Proclaimers song “500 Miles.” California to New York was way more than 500 miles. But he appreciated the sentiment.

He opened a direct message, “So, I’m someone who’s professionally good with words... I’m a bit anxious and I spout off random facts when nervous. Who knows how the interview went?” He returned to his couch and stared at his work laptop from across the room. In eight years of working for Merriam-Webster, he’d never brought it home before. Times were changing.

Rey let Rose and Poe buy her celebratory drinks after the NPR interview ("I wasn't the one who gave it," she protested, still accepting another vodka cranberry), but it was Finn's gift of ordering an Uber ride home for her that she really appreciated.

In the quiet of the backseat, Rey fished her cell phone out of her messenger bag, tapping over to her work Twitter. Another DM from KR-- or Kylo. She needed to remember that.

"Full disclosure, I'm a bit tipsy since it took a bit of courage to stage my own 'Say Anything' boombox moment, but I think your interview was phenomenal. You sounded calm and hot."

Rey squinted at her phone as she sent the message off, wondering if she was forgetting anything. Oh, right.

"I like your name. Want to know mine?- RK"

“Truthfully, I’d like to know anything that you want to share with me. I hope I’m not crossing a line or being a creep.”

"Considering the fact that I'm thisclose to looking you up on social media, trust me, you're not a creep. My name is Rey. Rey Kenobi. It's nice to meet you." 

Rey hunched down against the backseat, hemming and hawing at her message before sending it. In for a penny, in for a pound.

“Well, you won’t find any social media under the name Kylo Ren. It’s nice to meet you Rey, I’m Ben Solo. If you want to Google me.”

"So your secret identity is really the alter ego to your secret identity. You really are like Clark Kent."

Rey bit back a smile, thumbs nervously tapping at her screen before she formulated her next message. 

"Do you want me to google you? I won't if you don't want me to." For good measure, she sent the link to her personal Twitter, even though she was sure that he already had it pulled up by now.

One of the many wonderful and awful things about the internet was that you could find anything or anyone with a few words in a Google search, and then judge on what you saw.

Slamming the Uber door behind her before she trailed up the steps to her apartment, she just hoped that he liked what he saw.

”It’s fine. It’ll make your question about me being a Republican even funnier. I'll google you, just to keep it even.”

"What should I call you? Kylo or Ben?" She barely was inside the door of her apartment before she dumped her messenger bag on the floor, sliding down against the door to join it, cradling her phone in her hands.

The alcohol was now buzzing pleasantly through her as she typed his name into Google, holding her breath.

“Either is fine. I only publish under Kylo.”

He typed Rey’s name into Google and his breath caught, she was beautiful. And tall, standing next to a group of friends on what looked like a trip to Hawai’i.

Rey let her laughter bubble up in disbelief as a related search popped up underneath Ben's name. 

"Your mother is the Senior Senator for New York? Oh, and a Democrat. Jesus Christ, now I feel like an ass for asking if you're a Republican."

She continued to scroll, humming to herself. He was as handsome as he sounded, his deep tones seeming to suit his dark hair and eyes perfectly. She wondered if she could breathe properly.

“Yeah. That’s why published under another name. It makes it a lot easier to be seen as non-partisan. I am of course, I can’t help it if reality has a liberal slant.”

"Ben, can I be blunt?... You're really cute." Rey wanted to hide behind her phone, but she pushed herself up off the floor instead. 

Kicking off her shoes, she moved to the kitchen, setting her phone down so she wouldn't obsessively hover over it as she attempted to bake a frozen pizza.

“Uhh, again. Lost for words. Does this mean that you’d want to meet? Go on a date, I mean.”

"You haven't heard my voice yet, and I don't know which picture you came across in your Google search." She sent a silly gif along to show that she was joking, pressing the timer on the stove's clock as she considered.

"I'd love to go on a date with you. Or meet first, whichever. I'd like that."

“I'm kind of old-fashioned. I feel like dates are where you go to meet people, and see if you like each other. I really like you, after talking to you. So, I’d like to see what happens when we meet face-to-face. I will confess, that I just looked at all of your Facebook photos.”

Taking a deep breath, he pressed “friend request” on Facebook and waited for her to respond.

"Oh god, even my awful junior prom ones? And you still want to meet me in person? You're brave." She chuckled to herself, her phone buzzing with the incoming Facebook request.

She clicked on it instantly. *Accept Friend Request*

“Absolutely. You’ve seen photos of me with short hair? The ears, geez.”

"They're cute! Really." Rey scrolled through Ben's photos now, unashamed and almost giddy. This was the stuff of romcoms, and yet, here she was.

"When should we meet? Where should we meet? God, we need to plan this before I think this is a dream."

“I’m not doing anything tomorrow. I have a lot of frequent flyer miles saved from helping my mom campaign. We can meet somewhere halfway, on me or I can come to you.”

"Can you telecommute? I don't want to make you miss out on work, and I can work remotely. Or take an impromptu vacation and call it a business trip. We can talk social media strategies

**Author's Note:**

> Follow us on social media! [@PythiaTweets](http://twitter.com/pythiatweets%20rel=) and [HerSistersKeeper on Tumblr](http://hersisterskeeper.tumblr.com)
> 
> Please do not repost this story on other websites or platforms. If you'd like to see this posted elsewhere, please drop us a line!


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